PennDOT is adding more truck parking spaces across the state in the hopes of improving safety on the road, especially as the agency says the trucking industry is growing in Pennsylvania.
“Starting this week, PennDOT is adding over 1,200 truck parking spaces at 133 Commonwealth owned locations," said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll.
Carroll spoke Wednesday in Blair County at the site of one of the new truck parking locations. The one in Bellwood, where he spoke, is a large parking lot next to the on-ramp to Interstate 99.
“There are not enough safe parking options for trucks, truck drivers carrying freight," Carroll said. "Truck parking is a nationwide problem.”
Carroll said this is the first time in decades that PennDOT is addressing truck parking. He said tired drivers are more likely to cause accidents, and that truck drivers often have to pull off at unsafe places along the road to take a break.
“By adding these spots and looking to ways to add more, we're giving truckers many more options to safely park and to meet their rest requirements," Carroll said.
Carroll said PennDOT will work to add these new spaces through the end of next year.
The cost of creating these 133 lots is low, Carroll said, since PennDOT is mostly just adding signage and repurposing land already owned by the state. The new truck parking location in Bellwood is an already existing PennDOT storage site.
Truck drivers can find a list of these parking locations on 511pa.com and on the site’s app. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is looking to add about 600 truck parking spaces across its system.
